Vending machine elevators and locking means for same



y 1953 F. w. HOBAN 2,834,647

VENDING MACHINE ELEVATORS AND LOCKING MEANS FOR SAME Filed May 20, 1954 1 l. /0 MT m 2 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY F. W. HOBAN VENDING MACHINE ELEVATORS AND LOCKING MEANS FOR SAME Filed May 20, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fine/75.40 if/Amm BY fi ATTORNEY United States Ft VENDING MACHINE ELEVATORS AND LOCKING MEANS FOR SAME Fairfield W. Hohan, Babylon, N. Y.

Application May 20, 1954, Serial No. 431,093

10 Claims. (01. 312-71) This invention broadly relates to merchandise vending machines wherein are employed article magazines and article elevators operative in these magazines and which article elevators are designed to automatically raise articles to their ejecting position at the top ends of the magazines. Such a merchandise Vending machine and a self-propelled elevator are disclosed in Patents No. 2,593,102 issued April 15, 1952, and No. 2,431,542 issued November 25, 1947, to M. Caruso, 'assignor to C-Eight Laboratories, that assignee also controlling the present invention. This disclosure particularly deals with control means in vending machines for the article elevators, and which control means are intended to serve several purposes, that is, first, to retain the elevators in what can be termed a loadable position, while the machine is being stocked with fresh merchandise, secondly, to prevent the closing of the machine while the elevators are in their loadable position, thirdly, to automatically release all elevators of the machine for operation, and fourthly, to permit the closing of the vending machine only when the elevators are thus released.

Vending machines employing elevators of the type disclosed in the aforesaid patents have to be stocked with merchandise while the elevators are in their lowermost position. The elevators referred to in the above patents are provided with individual latch means which are adapted to be pressed into engagement with the teeth of their spring-propelled drums which latter automatically propel the elevators to travel in upward direction, thereby lifting the merchandise supported by the elevators to its ejecting position. These latch means are used to prevent the upward travel of the elevators while the machine is being stocked. It has been found that in a great number of cases the attendant stocking the machine will forget to free the elevators for upward travel and the merchandise supported by the elevators will not be placed in position for its ejection.

It is the purpose of the present invention to obviate the above possibility by forcing the attendant to first move all empty elevators to their lowermost position at which they are being stocked and to lock them and keep them locked in that position until the stocking operation is completed.

The locking of the elevators in their loading position is effected by a locking mechanism, which latter, I;

when moved to its operative, elevator-locking position prevents the closing of the vending machine; not until that mechanism is moved to free the elevators can the machine be closed.

The prime objects of the present invention therefore are the provision in a vending machine equipped with article elevators of means for locking the elevators, during stocking, in their loadable position, while at the same time automatically preventing the closing of the vending machine, and which locking means are so ar- 7;.

ranged that when they are moved to their elevatorreleasing position, the vending machine can be closed.

i c 2,834,647 Patented May 13, 1958 A more specific object of the present invention is the provision in such bending machine of a detent bar arranged near the bottom of the machine, means for moving the detent bar to either its operative or inoperative positions, and wherein said elevators are equipped with means for engaging said detent bar when the latter is in its operative position, whereby the elevators are kept at their lowermost or loading position, and wherein said detent bar moving means when actuated to cause the bar to assume its operative position, are themselves brought to their operative position at which they prevent the closing of the vending machine, but when they are moved back to their inoperative position to cause the detent bar to also re-assume its inoperative position, the elevators will be automatically released, and the vending machine can now be closed.

Still further objects and additional advantages of the present invention will become more clearly evident from the ensuing description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which latter, while illustrating a specific embodiment of the instant disclosure, are to serve primarily for explaining the purpose and function of the device without by any means limiting its structure to the actual showing, and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmental frontal elevation of: a vending machine with the body of the cabinet of the machine omitted;

Fig. 2 is a fragmental section taken approximately along lines 2-2 of Fig. 1, and disclosing a door panel for the cabinet in two positions and an elevator locking bar and its operating mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a fragmental typical section through a magazine portion of the vending machine taken along lines 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view in cross section taken approximately along lines 44 of Fig. 2, and including a diagrammatical illustration of an article elevator in its lowermost or loading position; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged frontal detail view of an elevator.

In the vending machine as disclosed in Patent No. 2,593,102 there are illustrated article magazines similar to those shown in Fig. 1 and indicated at in that figure. The shape and structure of the magazines can be readily visualized by consulting Fig. 3. They constitute compartments formed by specially shaped elements 11 arranged in spaced parallel relation to one another. Each of the elements is provided with a combination gear rack and guide bar 12, indicated also in Fig. 4, and which bar is operatively engaged by an article elevator 13.

Any number of magazines equipped with article elevators may be combined to be enclosed in a single cabinet 14, as seen in Fig. 2, and which cabinet is shown providedwith a door panel 15 preferably hinged at 16 and having a lockable closing flange 17. The cabinet has a shallow dished bottom 18 with an outwardly bowed very low frontal wall 19, the upper edge of which terminating in a frontally directed flange 20, see Figs. 1, 2 and 4. At the lower ends of magazine elements 11 7 there are provided apertures 21 in which is operatively journaled detent bar 22, as may be clearly seen from Fig. 4. That bar is of substantially an angular cross section and has an open side, the edges of the two other sides being turned in as at 23 and 24. Engaging bar 22 is a lever 25 in which is provided a triangular aperture 26 for receiving and moving bar 22. That lever has a broadened operating end 27, at the upper portion of which is a pivot pin 28 and in its lower end slot 29 is provided. Pivotally suspended from pin 23 is another lever 30 from the body of which extends a pin 31 into slot 29. By means of pin 31 and slot 29 the movement of lever 30 is limited. This lever has a notch or recess 32 and that notch is adapted to engage flange of low front wall 19, when the lever combination 25, 30 is in operative, full-line position shown in Fig. 4, and in broken-line position in Fig. 2. While in that position lever 30 prevents the closing of door panel 15, as indicated in the latter figure. When levers and are in that operative position, they also place detent bar 26 in what can be called its operative position. notch 32 of lever 30 is caused to disengage lip 20, the levers are now free to be swung to their inoperative position, shown in broken lines in Fig. 4 and in full lines in Fig. 2, at which position of the levers bar 22 also assumes its inoperative position. At their inoperative position the levers are retracted to the rear of wall 19 and thus permit the closing of door panel 15, as shown in full lines in Fig. 2. Lever 25 is urged by expansion spring 33, see Figs. 1 and 2, towards one of the elements 11, and that spring maintains the lever arrangement 25, St} at any position into which it is placed.

Again referring to Fig. 4, there is shown an article elevator 13 in its lowermost position within one of the magazines. At the front end of the elevator there is pivotally suspended by pin 34 a catch or latch 35, the latter being normally urged by spring 36 to'its outward or forward position in the direction of arrow I. Latch has at its lower end a hook formation 37 which is adapted to engage turned-in edge 24 of detent bar 22 when the elevator is brought to its lowermost position and when bar 22 is in its operative position as seen in full lines in Fig. 4. The moment however detent bar 22 is swung to the broken line position, hook 37 is caused to disengage the detent bar, thus freeing the elevator to rise along its combination gear rack and guide bar towards the top of the magazine.

Referring to Figs. 1, 4 and 5, elevator 13 has as its driving source a coil spring, not shown, mounted in a peripherally toothed drum 38, the teeth of which engage the teeth of bar 12. Opposite drum 38 is a fixed guide roller 39 and a detachable guide roller 40, both engaging the smooth rear face of bar 12, thus the elevator is so-to-speak clamped to bar 12 between drum 38 and the two guide rollers 39 and 40, whereby its article supporting platform 41 is held in proper position so that articles can be discharged therefrom by way of an ejector.

Platform 41 has downwardly curved edges 42, and mounted below the platform and passing through these edges are guide springs 43 adapted to keep the elevator in correct position while traveling in the article magazine.

In Figs. 1 and 5 elevator structure 13 is shown equipped with a governor 44, the rotary portion of which (not illustrated) is housed in a drum 45. That drum is secured to bracket portion 46 of the elevator by means of nut 47 engaging a sleeve through which projects a shaft supporting pinion 48, the latter being engaged by the teeth of spring drum 38, shown also in Fig. 4. Governor 44 serves for regulating and rendering uniform the speed of elevator 13 during its upward travel, thus preventing its rapid ascent, especially when either only a few articles of merchandise rest upon the elevator or when the latter becomes empty.

Operation As stated previously, the elevators must be brought to their lowermost position when empty in order to load them with merchandise. To retain the elevators at that position the attendant must swing levers 25, 30, actuating detent bar 22, to their operative, full-line position shown in Fig. 4, or their broken-line position shown in Fig. 2, or from their broken-line position shown in Fig. 4 to their full-line position shown in that figure. The operation of levers 25 and 30 to their operative or forward position will not only cause detent bar 22 to assume its operative position shown in full lines in Fig. 4, but will also bring lever 30 into locking engage- When ment with ledge or lip 20 of front wall 19, whereby not only the levers but also the detent bar are held in operative position. When now the elevators are moved to the position indicated in Fig. 4, their latches 35 will engage with their hook-shaped ends 37 the inner open edge 24 of detent bar 22, whereby the elevators are held at their lowermost or loading position. During the stocking or loading operation, levers 25, 30 are in their full-line operative position shown in Fig. 4, and at that position of the levers it is impossible to close door panel 3.5, as can be readily seen from Fig. 2.

When the stocking operation is completed, the attendant disengages lever 30 from lip 20 and swings the levers to their inoperative, broken-line position shown in 4. By that movement of the levers detent bar 22 is turned to its inoperative broken-line position, also shown in that figure. During that turning movement the upper rounded corner of bar 22 will cause disengage ment of latches 35 from the bar edge 24, so that the latches temporarily assume their broken-line position (see Fig. 4) and at which position of the latches the elevators are freed for movement in upward direction. While levers 25 and 30 are in their inoperative position (shown in broken lines in Fig. 4 or in full lines in Fig. 2) door panel 15 can be closed and locked.

As the top merchandise supported by the elevators is being discharged, the elevators rise until their latch means 35 clear detent bar 22 to reassume their full-line position shown in Fig. 4. It will be observed that below the hook-shaped bend 37 of the latches is an inclined end lip 37' which facilitates the passage of latches 35 and their movement inwards past the inner inclined surface of bar 22 until their hook ends 37 engage bar edge 24. T hat movement of the latches of course takes place only when the elevators are brought down to their lowermost position for stocking purposes.

Levers 25, 30, when swung to their inoperative, brokenline position shown in Fig. 4, are stopped when lug 25 of lever 25 comes to rest against stop pin 25" extend ing from one of the magazine wall elements 11.

Conclusion While in the foregoing a specific construction of the locking arrangement for the elevators is described in con junction with the drawings, it is quite obvious that in the application of the present invention to existing vending machines employing elevators, structural changes may be required in order to effect the principal object of the present invention of precluding inadvertent holding of the elevators in their inoperative position and of preventing closing of the Vending machine without freeing of the elevators for their intended operation, for which reason it is believed that such structural changes as may be required are to be considered part and parcel of the present disclosure, as defined in the annexed claims.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a vending machine including a cabinet having a dished bottom, the latter terminating in a low frontal wall provided with a frontally projecting lip, said cabinet including a door panel adapted, when in closing position, to cover said low frontal wall, said lip of the latter forming a stop for the door panel, a plurality of substantially vertical, channel-shaped article magazines in the cabinet, each magazine having a gear rack and guide bar, an article elevator operative in each of the magazines and engaging said gear rack and guide bar and being adapted to automatically move articles in upward direction to their ejecting position; a detent bar extending across the bottom of the cabinet, operating means for the detent bar for moving it either to what may be termed its operative or inoperative positions, said bar operating means being adapted, when moved to place the detent bar into operative position, to extend beyond said projecting lip of the low bottom frontal wall, thus preventing the door panel from closing; the elevators of all magazines having means for engaging said detent bar in the latters operative position when the elevators are forced to their lowermost position, thus being held in that position until released by the bar when the latter is brought by said operating means to its inoperative position, said detent bar operating means then assuming a retracted position within the cabinet, thus permitting the closing of the door panel.

2. In a vending machine including a cabinet having a door and article elevators of a gear and gear rack construction and being operative in article magazines within the cabinet, the gear of the elevators comprising a drum housing a spring motor for normally urging the elevators in upward direction within the magazines, means for arresting said elevators attheir lowermost or loading position and simultaneously preventing the closing of the door, said elevator arresting means comprising a rotary bar and a manually actuated lever combination for swinging the bar to either its operative, elevator arresting position or to its inoperative, elevator releasing position, said lever combination being adapted when caused to swing the bar to its elevator arresting position to assume a position outward in respect to said cabinet, and means provided with said lever combination for keeping the latter in that outward position until manually released and swung into the cabinet, thereby bringing the bar to its elevator releasing position.

3. In a vending machine including a cabinet having a closable door and spring-propelled article elevators operative in article magazines, said elevators having springloaded latch means, a rotary detent engageable by said latch means when the detent is in operative position and when said elevators are at their lowermost position within their magazines, at which position they are held against movement by said latch means when the latter engages the detent, and means for swinging said detent to either its inoperative or operative position, said swinging means, when caused to bring said detent to its operative position, being adapted to move to an outward position in respect to the cabinet, thus preventing the closing of the door, but permitting the closing of the door when moved into the cabinet to cause the detent to assume its inoperative position, at which position of the detent the latch means become disengaged, thereby releasing the elevators and permitting their upward movement in the magazines.

4. In a vending machine, a cabinet, a door for the latter, a plurality of article magazines, article elevators operative in the magazines and being adapted to successively lift articles, one at a time, to their ejecting position, a spring-loaded latch for each elevator, a rotary detent at the lower end of said magazines adapted, when in operative position, to be engaged by the latches of all elevators when the latter are depressed to their lowermost position, a lever for moving said detent to either its operative or its inoperative position, means for locking the lever and the detent in their operative position and at which position the lever extends outwardly from the cabinet,

said latches being adapted to engage the detent in its operative position when the elevators are depressed to assume their lowermost, loading position and at which position they are held by said latches, said lever, when in locked position, preventing the closing of the door, but permitting its closing when released to cause the movement of the detent to its inoperative, latch-releasing position at which the elevators are freed to rise in their 1nagazines.

5. In a vending machine according to claim 4, and wherein said detent comprises a rotatable bar having a longitudinal edge formation engageable by the latches of the elevators.

6. In a vending machine according to claim 4, and wherein said detent comprises a bar of substantially a triangular cross section and being rotatably mounted at the lower portion of said article magazines, one edge of the bar being engageable by the latches of the elevators when the bar is in its operative position, that is when that edge projects into the operative path of the latches as the elevators are depressed to their lowermost position.

7. In a vending machine according to claim 6, and wherein said lever for moving the detent comprises two lever elements, one being fixedly connected with said detent, the other element being hingedly associated with the fixed element and being provided wtih a releasable catch for engaging said locking means when said lever, and thus said detent, are to be held in their operative position.

8. In a vending machine according to claim 7, and wherein said latches comprise hook-shaped structures hingedly suspended from said elevators and terminating in slanting lower ends, the latter being adapted to facilitate moving the latches past said detent when the elevators are being depressed to their lowermost position until the latches can engage the detent to hold the elevators in that position.

9. In a vending machine according to claim 8, and wherein the elevators are provided withlresilient guide means to assure the correct positioning of said latches in respect to said detent.

10. In a vending machine according to claim 3, and wherein means are provided for arresting the movement of said detent swinging means when the latter are operated to bring the detent to its operative position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,553,510 Craft Sept. 15, 1925 1,662,329 Peterson Mar. 13, 1928 1,925,144 Kuhne Sept. 5, 1933 1,926,848 Giles Sept. 12, 1933 1,929,968 Bloomstran Oct. 10, 1933 1,997,078 Reimers et al Apr. 9, 1935 1,997,079 Reimers et a1. Apr. 9, 1935 2,431,542 Caruso Nov. 25, 1947 2,593,102 Caruso Apr. 15, 1952 

